Picking mechanism



June 26, 1956 J. WAWZONEK 2,

PICKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 17, 1954 F145. 11 n n nu W Fla. 6.

" [/VVENTWR! Uflitfid Stats Pae PICKIN G MECHANISM Joseph Wawzonek, Manville, R. L, assignor to Hemphill Company, Pawtucket, R. 1., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 17, 1954, Serial No. 419,997

3 Claims. (Cl. 548) This invention relates to an improvement in needle picks for circular, independent needle, knitting machines.

The usual needle pick consists of a head provided with a needle picking lip mounted upon a stem which is adapted to swing upon a pivot positioned at an angle to the axis of the needle cylinder. In consequence, the head of the pick, when operating, describes an arc opposed to the curvature of the cylinder. In other words, the pick, when engaged by a needle butt, first swings towards the cylinder and then away from it.

The length of the stern of the pick is limited by the space within which it can be mounted. Sometimes it happens that the stem is necessarily so short that the arc of swing of the pick is such that the pick separates from the needle which it is picking before the needle has been displaced the necessary distance. Furthermore, because the pick swings in and out, its motion is necessarily opposed to the direction of rotation of the cylinder so that the space of several needles is required to permit the head of the pick to enter between them to assume its initial picking position.

In some machines, the space through which the pick must pass to assume its initial position can not exceed, say, two needles. This is beyond the capabilities of the ordinary pick. The pick of this invention is capable of entering a space between needles much smaller than usual and is also capable of maintaining longer contact with the needle butt so that the needle can be displaced a greater distance.

One form of pick embodying this invention is shown in the drawing, of which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are side elevations showing the pick in various operating positions; and

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are complementary diagrammatic views to assist in the understanding of Figs. 1-4.

As shown in Figures 1-4, the pick consists of a bracket 1 adapted to be adjustably mounted upon any suitable part of the knitting machine. Pivoted at one end, as at 2, upon bracket 1 is an arm 3 which is swingable between stops 4 and 5. To the free end of arm 3 is pivoted an arm 6 as at 7. Adjacent the free end of arm 6 is mounted the pick proper 8 which is shown a removable and adjustable. The pick bearing end of arm 6 is normally maintained in a substantially horizontal position against a stop 9 on arm 3 by spring 11}, as shown in Figure 2, and arm 3 is normally held against stop 4 by the same spring 10.

When the pick is in operation, its normal position is as represented by Fig. 2 with the exception that arm 6 is swung downwardly a little since the head of the pick will be pressing against the underside of needle butts such as 11 as shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 5, it will be noted that two needles 12 have been previously displaced so that space is left in the needle circle at that point. When the rotation of the needle cylinder causes this space to reach the pick, spring 10 will cause its head to snap up through the space into picking position, as shown in Fig. 6. This motion, it will be noted, is substantially vertical as distinguished from the arcuate swing of the ordinary pick.

The continued travel of the needles will act upon the pick to move it and arm 6 substantially horizontally since the center of the pick is substantially at dead center with the pivot 7, as shown in Fig. 2, and this will cause arm 3 to swing upwardly until it strikes limiting stop 5. This latter motion will cause pivot 7 to rise above the center of pick 8 so that it is now in position to act as a pivot upon which the pick can swing, as shown in Fig. 3.

Further travel of the needles will cause the pick to swing downwardly into the position shown in Fig. 4 at which arm 6 is substantially vertical and which represents the limit of the picking ability of this pick.

As soon as the pick has disengaged from the needle butt, spring 10 will cause the mechanism to spring back to its initial position shown in Fig. 5. Because this mechanism can be so mounted that the plane of travel of pick 8 is substantially tangential to the needle cylinder, the pick 6 can maintain contact with a needle butt considerably longer than can the usual type of pick. Therefore, the needle can be picked to a greater depth than usual.

It will now be evident that this invention permits of the passage of a pick through a space between needles considerably smaller than usual and also makes possible a greater displacement of the picked needles.

Although the description has been confined to a widening pick, the invention is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. For a circular, independent needle, knitting machine having needles with operating butts movable in a horizontal plane, a needle picking mechanism which comprises a supporting bracket, a supporting member mounted on a pivot on said bracket, a supporting arm carried by a pivot on said member, and a needle picking head carried by said arm, said needle picking head and said arm supporting pivot lying in substantially the same horizontal plane at the beginning of the needle picking operation which plane is substantially coincident with the plane of the horizontal path of said needle butts, and said member supporting pivot lying in a different horizontal plane.

2. The invention according to claim 1 and a spring adapted to urge said picking head into the horizontal path of said needle butts.

3. A picking device for use on a circular, independent needle, knitting machine having a rotatable needle cylinder and needles thereon which includes a bracket, a member pivotally mounted thereon, an arm pivotally mounted upon said member, a picking head fixed to said arm and adapted to pick needles from one level to another, said pivots being parallel so that said member, arm, and picking head can move only in parallel planes, said bracket being mountable on said machine so that said parallel planes are substantially parallel to a tangent to the cylinder. 

